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I know it's early, but figured why not kick things off while I am sitting here watching college bowl games and browsing the new enrollment figures that were recently released.

It'll be interesting to see what ulitmately ends up happening, but it appears that Warsaw will move into 5A for the next cycle, and because of that, I would not be surprised if Mishawaka finally decides to drop down to 4A.

The Cavemen have requested to stay in 5A for years even though they are 4A enrollment, but I believe that was mostly strategic on their part. 5A North has rarely been a juggarnaut, specifically their sectional grouping. They may go ahead and stay in 5A, but in the past when they made that decision, Warsaw, Merrillville, and Valpariaso were not all in 5A north as well. That has changed in recent years, and it is not as if Mishawaka has killed it in the 5A tournament. 

4 Sectional titles in the last 5 years, but no Regional titles in the 6-class era. Would/could the Cavemen benefit from dropping down to 4A? NorthWood, Northridge, and New Prairie (maybe) would make for (likely) difficult Sectional opponents, but they've competed just fine against both as conference foes. No school in "The Region" would/should phase Mishawaka, which could lead to more Regional Titles, and then likely facing a team like Leo, East Noble, or Dwenger in a Semi-State wouldn't scare them either.

I would not be surprised in the slightest to see Mishawaka elect to go ahead and stay in their "true" enrollment classification of 4A this next cycle and for the foreseeable future.

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I could see Mishawaka wanting to stay in 5A this cycle as they will have a very young team next year.  Who are the 5a powerhouses in the north?  If Valpo drops...that would be about it in the North with Snider moving up to 6a. I would take my chances with 5a until the younger fellas get some playing time.  Either way, I don't see this being a great year for the cavemen.  With that said, I think it will be a down year in general for the NLC schools...excluding Warsaw...they are going to be a tough team to beat next year.

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On 12/23/2023 at 1:58 PM, NLCTigerFan07 said:

I know it's early, but figured why not kick things off while I am sitting here watching college bowl games and browsing the new enrollment figures that were recently released.

It'll be interesting to see what ulitmately ends up happening, but it appears that Warsaw will move into 5A for the next cycle, and because of that, I would not be surprised if Mishawaka finally decides to drop down to 4A.

The Cavemen have requested to stay in 5A for years even though they are 4A enrollment, but I believe that was mostly strategic on their part. 5A North has rarely been a juggarnaut, specifically their sectional grouping. They may go ahead and stay in 5A, but in the past when they made that decision, Warsaw, Merrillville, and Valpariaso were not all in 5A north as well. That has changed in recent years, and it is not as if Mishawaka has killed it in the 5A tournament. 

4 Sectional titles in the last 5 years, but no Regional titles in the 6-class era. Would/could the Cavemen benefit from dropping down to 4A? NorthWood, Northridge, and New Prairie (maybe) would make for (likely) difficult Sectional opponents, but they've competed just fine against both as conference foes. No school in "The Region" would/should phase Mishawaka, which could lead to more Regional Titles, and then likely facing a team like Leo, East Noble, or Dwenger in a Semi-State wouldn't scare them either.

I would not be surprised in the slightest to see Mishawaka elect to go ahead and stay in their "true" enrollment classification of 4A this next cycle and for the foreseeable future.

I'm not quite sure where you're getting your info.  Only 1 time has Mishawaka elected to "play up" into 5A.  It was when Bart was still at Mishawaka.   They've also won atleast 1 regional in the 6 class Era.  They beat Lowell in the regional and lost to Dwenger in the SS.

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16 hours ago, Cavemenfb38 said:

I'm not quite sure where you're getting your info.  Only 1 time has Mishawaka elected to "play up" into 5A.  It was when Bart was still at Mishawaka.

Yes, I believe you are correct. That is my mistake. It looks like in the last cycle, Mishawaka was among the smallest 5A schools at 1,603 students for the 2021-2022 school year count.

https://www.ihsaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2022-23 2023-24 Football Alignment.pdf

But yet, kind of crazy to see the counts listed here in another thread show Mishawaka at 1,463 students for the 2022-2023 school year (right on the 5A/4A cutline) and then the most recent thread for this year's numbers is showing them down even more at 1,422 students for this school year, 2023-2024, well within 4A.

That is part of the reason why I had thought they had always been, enrollment wise, a class 4A size school but playing up in class 5A. The 2018-2019 school year figure also had them at 1,477 student, which was right around the cutline of 5A and 4A.

16 hours ago, Cavemenfb38 said:

They've also won atleast 1 regional in the 6 class Era.  They beat Lowell in the regional and lost to Dwenger in the SS.

That is correct, in 2018. However, that was a 4A Regional Title, not a 5A Regional Title, which was the point I was originally trying to make, but mispoke.

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22 hours ago, 00NWP said:

Who are the 5a powerhouses in the north?  If Valpo drops...that would be about it in the North with Snider moving up to 6a.

That's ultimately the question - would you rather go up against the likes of:

Valparaiso, Merrillville, Warsaw, Chesterton, Michigan City, Kokomo, and Lafayette Jeff (maybe - I'm thinking they could potentially get shifted to 5A South depending on how all this shakes out) in 5A

OR

Leo, East Noble, FW Dwenger, NorthWood, Northridge, New Prairie in 4A?

Obviously every year and/or cycle could be different, but I feel like the Cavemen would be a legit threat every year to represent 4A North as opposed to having to duke it out with Merrillville or Valparaiso in a Regional matchup year after year.

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Doesn't Mishawka loose pretty much all of their Offense and Defense lines....their quarterback...and most of their linebackers?  Not trying to ruffle feathers....but I fear they will not fair well next year.  NorthWood is in the same boat.  Their entire offense minus their running back is gone. I am really curious as to how NW and Mishawaka's younger fellas play...and I hope they do well...I just don't see it happening.  Warsaw has just about everyone coming back...as does Concord.

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2 hours ago, 00NWP said:

Doesn't Mishawka loose pretty much all of their Offense and Defense lines....their quarterback...and most of their linebackers?  Not trying to ruffle feathers....but I fear they will not fair well next year.  NorthWood is in the same boat.  Their entire offense minus their running back is gone. I am really curious as to how NW and Mishawaka's younger fellas play...and I hope they do well...I just don't see it happening.  Warsaw has just about everyone coming back...as does Concord.

Mishawaka loses a lot on the o-line but defensive line and linebacker they should have 2-3 starters back that includes one all state player at each position.

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4 hours ago, Coach Lou said:

Not sure what the selling his house reference means?

If the rumors I've heard are true, the last coach Goshen hired from that area coached for 1 season, got our hopes up then quit because he couldn't sell his house. 

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Goshen is hiring former Saint Joe quarterback Joey Hecklinski as its new head football coach, pending school board approval on Monday.
Hecklinski has been a college assistant for several years, most recently serving as quarterbacks coach and then running backs coach at Ball State.
He recently got married and become a father and is eager to be closer to family here in Michiana. He will be a teacher at the school, beginning in the next few weeks. He comes from a long family line of great coaches in multiple sports.
In 2007, he was the starting quarterback as he led Saint Joe to the state finals.
Great hire for Goshen as they land a college football assistant coach as their new head coach.

Edited by WawaseeFan22
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Sounds like a good hire for Goshen. Good to get a local guy that has roots in the area (see previous post as to why this matters). D1 recruiting experience will be put to the test in the halls right away as a bunch of varsity players have left the program this offseason.  Good Skills to Coach Hecklinski. Welcome to Goshen. 

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Any word on Wawasee?

 

Also now that Goshen has a head coach any word on staff changes there? I know coach Wogomon brought in a number of assistants two years ago including O.C. and D.C. and Associate Head Coach.

Heard Elkhart won't make many changes having hired from with in.

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